Hundreds of UK Families on Holiday Florida Forced to Ride Out Hurricane Irma

Hundreds of UK Families on Holiday in Orlando have been forced to ride out Hurricane Irma .

After days of alarming warnings and residents being evacuated , Hurricane Irma hit Florida Keys on Sunday at 9.00am local time, causing a whole host of devastation in its wake.

Hurricane Irma, which has been reduced to a category 3 storm is expected to hit Orlando on Monday with winds of 100 mph being predicted.

Thousands of UK Families in the popular holiday destination have been warned to stock up on food and water remain stay in their hotel rooms .

Some families, on being warned about the storm, decided to end their holidays early and were lucky enough to manage to get a flight back to the UK .

Lauren Collins , who was her honeymoon with her husband and two children had booked a Disney Cruise for the final few days of their special holiday. However due to Hurricane Irma their cruise was cancelled and were initially left with no where to stay until their scheduled flight home.

Although they were eventually offered and extension on their hotel they were able to secure a flight home on Saturday afternoon just before the airport closed.

Lauren, from Tameside in Greater Manchester, said "although we are of disappointed to have to have our honeymoon cut short, this is nothing compared to those who have have lost their homes and lives".

However other families have no choice but to brave the hurricane .

Those preparing for the storm over the last couple of days have been describing shops running out of basic supplies and fights breaking out over depleting supplies of water.

Families have been reporting on Facebook , that although Orlando has not been subject to evacuations, a local curfew of 7pm has been put in place. They have also been warned that there maybe power outages once the storm does hit.

Normally opened every day of the year Orlando's famed, Disney World has been forced to close for only the 5th time in its history . Closing all four of it's parks on Saturday at 9pm it is expected to remain that way until at least Tuesday .

Those with scheduled tickets for those days have been able to get a full refund or extra days added to multiday tickets .

Although the parks have shut the Disney Hotels have remained opened. In true Disney style, those staying in the onsite hotels have reported visits from Disney characters , free arcade games and plenty of food.

Families staying at non Disney hotels also described how fantastic the hotel staff have been . Providing advice and reassurance.

Lots of Florida residents who been left with no choice but to evacuate their homes, from areas such as Florida Keys have checked into Orlando based hotels to sit out the storm.